Word: figurehead
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...pins and needles," acknowledges a senior U.S. official. The West has a huge stake in Yeltsin, to the extent that he has come to embody Russia's stumbling progress toward reform. If he is turned into a figurehead, the U.S. and its allies would find it extremely difficult to muster domestic support for lavishing money on a government dominated by neocommunists. If hard-boiled nationalists replace Yeltsin, an anti-Western Kremlin could reverse agreements on cutting nuclear arsenals, sell weapons to dangerous clients like Saddam Hussein, immobilize the U.N. with vetoes, slow down or reverse troop withdrawals from eastern Germany...
...FIGUREHEAD OR DICTATOR? RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Boris Yeltsin seemed to be facing just that stark a choice: he could either bow to a resolution passed by the Congress of People's Deputies stripping him of much of his power, or dissolve the parliament and try to institute a presidential regime propped up by the military. Before resorting to that "final option," though, Yeltsin played another card: he sought to put the question of who should wield the ultimate power in Russia to a nationwide vote. But the Congress, staying in session two extra days, rejected Yeltsin's plebiscite plan...
...basic law. Yeltsin wants a strong President, who will have a free hand to organize new government structures and appoint ministers. His whole approach is anathema to legislators who want to give parliament the power to control government appointments and to make the head of state a figurehead that Yeltsin supporters claim would be akin to the British Queen...
...that if this audience felt like this, then they hadn't actually listened to what Bob Dylan said, they didn't actually get it. These are the people who supposedly believed in Bob Dylan, but they've fallen asleep. And this is proved by the fact that himself, their figurehead, fell asleep. Bob Dylan went onstage after that had happened to another artist...
Jiang and Kang loosed the young Red Guards on a murderous rampage that destroyed Liu's government and Deng's party. Thousands, if not millions, were killed. Lin became Mao's heir, but soon fell under suspicion of trying to turn Mao into a powerless figurehead. To avoid his own arrest, Lin attempted a putsch that failed. Premier Zhou Enlai was left in charge, but he too ended up in Jiang's sights as she maneuvered to succeed...